The Black-Marketer’s Daughter

The Black-Marketer’s Daughter brings to light some nuances of a culture unknown to many of us. Its theme is somewhat dark, taking on the subject of spousal abuse and its aftermath.

Zuleikha, the protagonist, begins as a young woman from Pakistan. She has just undergone an arranged marriage in her native country, and she now arrives in Irving, Texas, with her American husband, Iskander. She seems to adapt nicely to an American lifestyle. Her new husband dotes on her, and she soon gives birth to a son. The only thing really missing from her marriage is love. She eventually finds it – or rather, it finds her – but the man is not her husband.

That storyline may not sound all that original, but then it gets ugly. Iskander learns of her infidelity while she is pregnant with their second son. In an instant, he explodes into a fit of rage that will forever change their lives.

Despite one scene of violent spousal abuse, the author did not indulge in gratuitous violence. One scene was enough. However, the author does go into detail with the aftermath. We learn of Zuleikha’s feelings of shame, and how her relationship with her young son now seems different. I know that shame is fairly common in situations like this, but this story takes it further by including other abused women, of her same culture, and of somewhat similar circumstances.

Mallick includes enough description to make a scene vivid, yet he doesn’t include superfluous details. I enjoyed that. Music has a large part in the story, and the author did a good job of explaining what it meant to the protagonist.

One thing that sort of threw me was the inclusion of Muslim-oriented things. For instance, describing a man’s appearance can include words I’m unfamiliar with. “The Imam wears stylish, wire-rimed round glass, a bright orange and red chapman tied with a kerchief at the waist, and a tubeteika perched atop his jet-black hair.” The same was true with the attire of women.

The was a very interesting story, told very nicely by someone who knows more about this than I do. Even though the theme is dark, the author put some light at the end of that tunnel, so don’t let that discourage you from reading it.